411 Box Office Report: Hobbs & Shaw Blasts Off With $60 Million Start For #1, Lion King Still Strong

Universal looks to be in good shape for a continued Fast & Furious spin-off franchise, as Hobbs & Shaw flew to an easy #1 at the box office this weekend. The Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham-led Fast & Furious Presents movie brought in $60.8 million to power its way to the top spot. That’s right about where analysts expected it to do coming into the weekend. While that does make this the lowest start for a film in the action franchise’s universe since Tokyo Drift earned $24 million in 2006, that was always expected and Universal is likely to be happy with the number.

Some might make this out to be a disappointing number in comparison to the other recent Fast & Furious films, but the fact that this is a spin-off is a big factor that the studio is obviously aware of. Hobbs & Shaw marks the best lead role openings for both Johnson and Statham, beating out Johnson’s $54.6 million for San Andreas and Stathan’s $45.4 million for The Meg. Anticipation was fairly high for the film and critic reviews were solid enough at a 71% Rotten Tomatoes consensus that people saw no reason to stay away. And the better news is in the word of mouth; the action flick is wowing fans, who gave it an A- CinemaScore which is only slightly below the A for the last three main franchise movies.

Like with any Furious-related movie, the big money here is going to be overseas and Hobbs & Shaw is off to a very good start there. Opening in 63 markets, the film grossed $120 million outside of the US for a $180.8 million worldwide start. And that’s with China, France, and Korea among those territories still to open. The film was expensive with a $200 million budget, but in the US it should be able to top $160 million with a clear path in terms of overseas competition in successive weeks. Right now, all signs are that the studio has another hit here.

The Lion King ceded control to Hobbs & Shaw in its third week, but still looked good at $38.3 million which is a solid 50% drop, right on par with Beauty and the Beast’s third weekend hold. The live-action adaptation of the animated classic now has $430.9 million domestically and a whopping $1.196 billion worldwide, putting it well within reach of Beauty’s $1.263 million worldwide numbers. The film is another runaway hit for Disney and should end its domestic run right around $500 million.

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood had a very decent second weekend, as it was down 51% to $20 million. The 1960s-set dramedy didn’t match the holds of Django Unchained (34%), but that was a holiday film. It did beat the 59% drop of Hateful Eight — also a holiday film — and was comparable to Tarantino’s last summer opening in 2009’s Inglourious Basterds (49%). Once Upon a Time now has $78.8 million domestically and is headed on its way to $140 million or so. The film is being rolled out overseas throughout the month. It had a budget of $90 million.

Spider-Man: Far From Home was down a spot to #4 in its fifth week, scoring $7.8 million. That’s down a very good 38% from last weekend. The Sony-produced film now has $360.3 million domestically and $1.075 billion worldwide. At this point the movie looks likely to hit $380 million, and could even pass Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s $389.8 domestic total. Of course, it’s a big hit against its $160 million budget.

Toy Story 4 was down 32% in its seventh weekend with $7.2 million, bringing it to $410.1 million domestically and $959.3 million worldwide. The movie is now looking like it will top $430 million at least, and will top Toy Story 3’s $415 million by next weekend. The production budget was $200 million.

It’s another week, another good hold for Yesterday. The Danny Boyle-directed musical fantasy film was down just 21% in its sixth weekend with $2.4 million. The film has now tallied $67.9 million domestically and $118.9 million worldwide against a budget of $26 million. At this point, it should be able to pass $75 million domestically and is a sizable hit for Universal.

A24 continued its platforming plans for Awkafina’s dramedy The Farewell, and the results were good. The critically-acclaimed film was up 60% to $2.4 million in its third weekend of release while sitting at just 409 theaters so far. The film is definitely building based on good word of mouth, and has totalled $6.8 million to date. Assuming that it continues to platform well, this is a film that A24 could squeeze a good profit out of, and that’s if it doesn’t get some level of award season re-release (which it likely will). The budget was just $3 million, and it’s fair to say this will be at least a minor indie hit.

Crawl was down 47% in its fourth weekend to $2.2 million. The alligator thriller now sits at $36.1 million domestically and $53.7 million worldwide thus far, right where Paramount would like it against a $13.5 million production budget. Domestically it should clear $45 million.

Aladdin is still hanging in the top ten for the moment, down 34% in its eleventh weekend to score $2 million. The live-action remake now has $350.4 million domestically and $1.025 billion so far against a $183 million budget. Needless to say, this is a hit for the studio and then some. It is still on par for $355 million or so domestically.

Annabelle Comes Home closed out the top ten with $875,000, down a 44% in its sixth weekend. The Conjuring universe film now has $71.6 million domestically and $211.8 million worldwide against a $30 million budget. Its US run will end at around $73 million.

Four films will enter the market next weekend, though only one of them has much of a chance at #1. That’s Dora and the Lost City of Gold, which will target the kids demographic on its way to a mid-to-high $20 million start. Crime drama The Kitchen and the Guillermo Del Toro-produced horror flick Scary Stories to Tell In the Dark are both looking at around $10 million to $12 million, with dramedy The Art of Racing In the Rain in the high single digits.